NRC Urges Nonlethal Arms Research

RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

Published 6:00 pm, Monday, November 4, 2002

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Weapons that don't kill people, ranging from sticky or slippery sprays to bad smells and psychological methods to calm crowds should be given a higher priority by the military, especially the Navy and Marines, the National Research Council says.

The long-awaited report on nonlethal weapons called for establishment of special research centers for such weapons and high-level oversight to encourage their development.

Miriam E. John of Sandia National Laboratories, chairwoman of the committee that wrote the study released Monday, said nonlethal weapons could provide added security to American bases and vessels and help soldiers on peacekeeping missions better deal with unruly crowds.

But the recommendation drew sharp criticism from the Sunshine Project, a chemical and biological weapons monitoring group that is the chief critic of nonlethal weapons programs.

Edward Hammond, a project staff member, charged the research council with providing cover for military research programs.

"The panel's findings will be used by the Pentagon to redouble their chemical weapons development efforts with potentially disastrous results for arms control," he said. "Other countries will follow suit and controls on chemical weapons could quickly destabilize."

The United States signed the chemical weapons treaty in the early 1970s.

The armed services have operated a joint nonlethal research program since 1996 and the committee urged that it be sped up.

The recommendation for additional research comes just over a week after about 120 captives died when Russian forces pumped incapacitating gas into a theater where about 40 Chechen separatists had taken more than 750 people hostage. Russian officials said the gas was not supposed to cause deaths.

The goal of nonlethal weapons is to incapacitate people or equipment while minimizing unintended fatalities and damage, the Research Council said.

"What we're saying is that we're putting our soldiers in harm's way, doing humanitarian and peacekeeping missions, without the tools to deal with these large crowds that can turn on them in a minute," John said in a telephone interview.

She said calming methods that would have a psychological impact on people _ perhaps using music or speaking to crowds appropriately in their language _ have not been well studied.

As for using chemicals to calm crowds, she said international treaties are complicated. "The lawyers have got to get together on this. There is so much latitude for interpretation, it needs a very, very careful look."

The report noted that while chemicals that have a physical effect, such as putting people to sleep, may be banned under treaties, materials that have a psychological impact, calming people down, may be legal.

Marine Capt. Shawn Turner, spokesman for the military's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, said he has not yet seen a copy of the study and could not comment on it.

The study was done after the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, although it was requested before then, John said. Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed when a dinghy loaded with explosives rammed the destroyer as it was refueling in Aden.

Taking that into account, the report stressed the need for accelerated research into barrier and entanglement systems that could be deployed to stop vessel movement.

Other possibilities suggested were solid-state lasers and chemicals that stop engines and calmatives to stop such attackers.

Researchers at a Pentagon-funded institute at Pennsylvania State University prepared a 50-page report in 2000 saying that developing calmative weapons "is achievable and desirable" and suggesting drugs like Valium for further research.

One hurdle for using such drugs for riot control, the researchers wrote, is finding a way to deliver the substances to large groups, such as in a spray or mist.

Other problems are figuring out how to prevent other injuries, such as from people falling down if they are knocked unconscious, as well as determining the proper strength of a spray depending on whether it is to be used indoors or outside.

Material collected by the National Research Council disclosed a wide range of proposed nonlethal weapons ranging from liquid projectiles to microorganisms that gobble up highways and runways, making them unusable, sticky sprays that make floors and stairs a gummy mess and foul-smelling fogs.

Some examples are already in use, including tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.

The National Research Council is an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, an independent organization chartered by Congress to provide scientific advice to the government.